What does Halloween mean/mean to you?

[FlouncerInDenial]

Interested in what others may say.

So, for me. I'm not a Christian, but went to a CofE school in the 70s.
I'm sure we were told that Halloween was a biblical thing. The day (night, probably) before All Saints Day.
This was before trick or treating was a "thing". Although we had begun to hear about that as being a thing in America.

So, what is it to you?

[Frdd]

Tattoo is a brand of crisps. But there are 2 crisp companies called tayto. One in the south of Ireland and one in the north.

Northern tayto are superior to southern tayto. 😜

[Frdd]

TAYTO

[Chicchicchicchiclana]

Lol at Tattoo crisps!

[Taytocrisps]

I think bobbing and dooking apples are the same thing - just different expressions. We say bobbing because the apples bob around in the water, making it difficult to sink your teeth into them.

[Ignacious]

Sorry, totally off topic but:
My former boss is Irish and he told me all about Tayto crisps and how good they are. It’s a while ago now, but I’m sure he said back in Ireland you could buy a ‘kit’ containing crisps and bread - to make a crisp sandwich. He also said there’s a Tayto theme park.
I’m in Northern England but during lockdown I managed to get a multipack of Tayto’s from Morrison’s - and he was right, they were great. Not seen them since.

[Ajl46]

I've always thought "trick or treat" is a strange custom to teach children. It's basically extortion.

[FourTeaFallOut]

The children are asking for a trick or a treat. How is that like extortion? When was the last time the Mafia came around and said, "Give us 10 % of your takings or a potato, if you prefer?"

[Ad3laid3]

I love it, it’s my birthday

[BLASTPROCESSING]

"I've always thought "trick or treat" is a strange custom to teach children. It's basically extortion."

lol

[Limpid]

@Ajl46

I've always thought "trick or treat" is a strange custom to teach children. It's basically extortion.

Yeah, they’ll move straight on to armed bank robbery.

[Frosty26827]

Nothing

[JingsMahBucket]

@Taytocrisps that was lovely to read. Thanks for sharing those memories in such great detail. :)

[nancybotwinbloom]

Bit of pre planned fun whist my DD is too young to want to fuck me off for
Her mates.

I take full advantage of dressing her up, duck apple etc

[PercyKirke]

Nothing. It is a US imported marketing ploy like Black Friday and is solely for the benefit of retailers. We don't do it at all.

[jennie0412]

Nothing important, just scary movies and toffee apples, and lots of fake blood if going out

[BLASTPROCESSING]

"It is a US imported marketing ploy like Black Friday and is solely for the benefit of retailers. We don't do it at all."

🙄

[Furries]

@PercyKirke - out of Interest, what year were you born in? Only asking as I see/hear this type of response quite a lot, generally from people younger than me.

I was born in ‘71 - we were all definitely trick or treating then. Plus, I have just a teeny, tiny feeling that the tradition goes back waaay longer than that. It’s definitely not an American import! (No offence meant to US mumsnetters).

I don’t have kids, so no trick or treating to do (in non-Covid times). And I’m semi-rural so no knocking at my door either. I don’t decorate the house (enough of a faff doing the Christmas decorations!). So, I guess I’d say it doesn’t mean anything in that sense - but it’s the time of year that I probably think more about those that are no longer in my life as, although they are no longer here, they definitely aren’t forgotten.

[mathanxiety]

It is a US imported marketing ploy like Black Friday and is solely for the benefit of retailers. We don't do it at all.


@PercyKirke
It's an old, old Scottish and Irish tradition that made its way to North America hundreds of years ago with emigrants from Ireland and Scotland, and came back to mischievously annoy the pants off certain sections of English society.
I've always thought "trick or treat" is a strange custom to teach children. It's basically extortion.


In the part of Ireland where my mother and all her ancestors come from trick or treating while disguised is called Vizzarding. A vizzard is a mask. Maybe it comes from the French 'visage' (= face). Vizzarding groups would recite a rhyme or a song and would be rewarded with food or money.

I grew up in Dublin where Hallowe'en (translation: the eve of All Hallows, or All Saints) was a big traditional Irish thing. We prepared for a full on celebration in fine pagan form (in a Catholic convent school no less) by making and decorating masks. The following day was and still is All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation (to go to Mass).

In ancient times, Hallowe'en ('Samhain') was a night on which the boundary between life and death became blurred, a liminal time, when the seasonal cycle of growth and harvest was finished and the period of darkness arrived. Cattle were brought down from mountain pastures. Animals were slaughtered for winter food. People left out food for passing souls and ancient beings such as the Sí; guising and turnip carving echoed the link with grotesque nature spirits and the dead. There were and still are rituals involving bonfires, divination using symbolic objects baked into barm breac and seasonal fruits and nuts - as a child, my friends and I used to go from house to house asking for apples and nuts, very typically associated with Hallowe'en customs.

www.thejournal.ie/readme/only-for-halloween-surviving-in-america-it-probably-would-have-died-out-here-3667762-Oct2017/

As the mother of American children I have fond memories and much photographic evidence of evenings of great fun trick or treating, and the lingering sweet smell of pillowslips full of candy which the DCs emptied out onto the sittingroom floor when they got home to swap favourites among themselves.

[CloudyVanilla]

I love Halloween. I love spooky stuff but although not religious the ideology behind it is important to me. Thinking about the spirits of the dead.

I grew up with parents who thought it was completely commercial and modern and from America so I never got to do much for it. It's a shame because it has ancient roots and I think they're important.

[KitKatastrophe]

Nothing, it's just for fun. Like april fools day or bonfire night (presumably nobody these days is actually celebrating the execution of Guy Fawkes, it's just fun to watch fireworks)

[MrsKingfisher]

Absolutely nothing and happily this year the absence of feral teens banging on doors and generally spoiling it for others.

[Ifailed]

I grew up in the 60s in England, Halloween was a thing, but no trick or treating. We'd cut ourselves carving a swede with a blunt penknife (never a turnip, they're far too small), there would be ghost stories, knock down ginger etc.

[PurBal]

Just that All Saints and All Souls day is about to happen. Think about the loved ones I've lost. Maybe light a candle and say a prayer for the deceased. This year will be special as it's the first since my grandma died. I find it a very spiritual time of year.

[Hiccupiscal]

@Taytocrisps thank you for sharing your memories, how lovely they are. I throughly enjoyed reading it all, and I think its wonderful the ending of your post, to say although times have changed, you still love the tradition and how it's celebrated now.

[Taytocrisps]

Thanks for your kind words @JingsMahBucket and @Hiccupiscal - my only regret is that there are no photos of us as kids dressed in our Hallowe'en costumes. Or playing our games. My family weren't well off and we didn't have a camera for long periods of my childhood.